GET ANSWERS (REAL ANSWERS) ABOUT WACO

The Morning CallTHE MORNING CALL

It is difficult to overstate the damage caused by last week's admission by Attorney General Janet Reno that the FBI lied for six years about the use of incendiary devices in the siege of the Branch Davidian cult in Waco, Texas. About 80 people died when the cult's buildings burned that day in 1993, and from the start, there were questions about the propriety of what police, federal agents and even members of the military did that day. The news of last week does not of itself corroborate the conspiracy theories. But it does show that when critics said the FBI wasn't being truthful about its actions, they were right.

Even after six years, reports of bureaucratic bungling -- or even out-right lying -- still can shake Washington and the rest of the country. Hearings into the Waco siege will be re-opened and public opinion has been re-stirred. Consider these effects:

*Conspiracy theory depends on at least a few pieces of fact. From them can be spun a wide, entangling web. Consider the theories about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy 36 years ago. They still attract devoted followers. In the case of the Waco siege, the admission that agents did fire incendiary tear-gas shells opens the door to speculation about every other tactic in the siege.

It is important to note that when an official lie has been exposed, it is outrageous far beyond the fringe world of the right-wing cultists. But it is the extremists who use conspiracy theories to justify broader complaints. The fact that the incendiary canisters were used in a bunker does not automatically mean that the agents started the fatal fire in another part of the compound several hours later. But exactly that already is being circulated.

*Whether the falsehoods are the result of deceit or bureaucratic fog, the FBI's disclosures last week will be used as political weapons. There is no shortage of people on Capitol Hill who are eager to take a few licks at the Clinton administration, but the question of what happened at Waco is too important to be left to a partisan tug-of-war.

Therefore, it is important that investigations be conducted in a coordinated, bipartisan way. It was good to hear on Sunday that two members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Charles E. Schumer, a Democrat from New York, and Sen. Orrin G. Hatch, a Republican from Utah, both are calling for new hearings. To their credit, both also are saying they have not concluded that federal agents started the fire, only that they want more answers.

Similarly, Attorney General Janet Reno must turn her investigation over to an independent review. She hinted she was willing to do so, and she must follow through, the sooner the better. Only a fair, independent review can save the FBI's reputation.

Nothing is more subversive of the American experiment of civility than mistrust of government power. We must get to the bottom of the Waco tragedy.